Best Carrots (2012)

More than any other vegetable, the humble carrot has been elevated the most by modernist cooking techniques. At Copenhagen's Noma, a restaurant voted the best in the world last year, one of the signature dishes consists of a purple carrot that spent an entire year in the dirt, roasted for hours until it becomes unbelievably rich and buttery. At Tehachapi's Weiser Family Farms, the carrots aren't that old — which is probably for the best — but they still attain a mind-blowing earthy richness after an hour roasting on low heat. Alex Weiser's organic heirloom carrots are best recognized for their Technicolor vibrancy — they come in purple, orange and yellow varieties — but it's their mellow sweetness that's best known among Los Angeles chefs and shoppers. The consensus among them seems to be the less you add to a Weiser carrot, the better it becomes. Sunday Hollywood farmers market, at Ivar and Sunset, Hlywd.; Wednesday Santa Monica farmers market, Arizona Avenue between Fourth Street and Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica; and other markets. weiserfamilyfarms.com.
—Garrett Snyder